Hints and tips:
...At Guidant, the American medical device maker, executives used to have to sit on a stool while colleagues stood up to complain about them....
...The slate will include several former heads of healthcare giants: Ron Dollens, the former chief executive of Guidant, Dr Ernest Mario, former chief executive of Glaxo, Hank McKinnell, former chief executive...
...Yet two years ago J&J allowed an agreed bid for Guidant, a medical device maker, to be broken up by a much smaller rival, Boston Scientific, which paid $27bn....
...Boston Scientific has been a one-way ticket downwards since beating Johnson & Johnson to buy Guidant last year....
...As CEO of Guidant, Mr Cornelius skilfully engineered the bidding war for the medical device maker and its eventual sale to Boston Scientific....
...Another was the $28bn takeover of Guidant, a maker of medical devices, by its rival Boston Scientific. Refco was one of the few buy-outs to suffer....
...That gave Boston Scientific a window to enter the frame, ultimately placing a $27bn bid that was accepted by Guidant’s board....
...J&J’s complaint hinges on interpretation of its merger agreement with Guidant....
...On the other hand, Guidant’s former owners might, with hindsight, wonder if they should have taken blue chip Johnson & Johnson’s stingy offer a year ago against Boston Scientific’s higher bid....
...In the case of Boston, they bid a lot for Guidant, paid a huge price.” “I timed a very good investment in AOL/Time Warner after that humunguous deal and $100m-plus loss of shareholder value....
...Mr Cornelius this year oversaw the $27bn sale of Guidant, the US medical device maker where he was chairman and also interim chief executive, to Boston Scientific....
...The company’s profit fell 30 percent on charges related to its $4.1 billion acquisition of businesses from Guidant Corp. and lower sales due to the ending of a distribution pact with a German drugmaker....
...Take Boston Scientific, which still has its work cut out in integrating rival medical device maker Guidant....
...Guidant shares were fractionally lower at $78.35 in pre-market trading....
...In traditional pharmaceuticals, there was Vioxx; in biotechnology, there were safety issues for Tysabri, a BiogenIdec treatment for multiple sclerosis; in medical devices, malfunctions of Guidant’s implantable...
...In January, it was poised to buy Guidant, the maker of cardiac devices, for about $25bn, but was outbid by Boston Scientific....
...Guidant’s market share in defibrillators was already eroding as J&J went through the antitrust process....
...Rather, hopes rest on its agreement to buy large chunks of Guidant’s activities from Boston Scientific....
...Guidant investors appeared to welcome the offer, bidding Guidant shares up 7.7 per cent to $76.31....
...Boston earlier this year outbid its much larger rival Johnson & Johnson in the race to take over Guidant, a maker of cardiac devices....
...Boston early this year swooped to outbid rival Johnson & Johnson’s agreed deal with Guidant, a maker of implantable devices, such as pacemakers....
...Guidant says it will review the offer Guidant news and analysis page...
...But Guidant’s net cash position of about $2.5bn, as well as various divestures, should push the net price below $20bn....
...One Guidant investor suggested this might be a difficult psychological hurdle for J&J to overcome. But the battle for Guidant is expected to continue....
...The offer is higher than J&J’s sweetened $24.2bn agreement reached with Guidant last Friday. Almost forgotten in the later stages of the bid battle is Guidant’s damaging product recall last year....
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